The Supreme Court on Friday set out to examine whether the appointment of head of a State Women Commission should follow certain norms or it should be left to the State Government to nominate persons of their choice.
The question was brought to the court by the Haryana Government after the Punjab & Haryana High Court stayed its notification curtailing the tenure of present Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson of State Women Commission. The said appointment was made by the previous Congress dispensation of the State just on the eve of elections in September 2014.
Appearing for the State, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi argued that the said appointment was made by way of nomination and the State Government intends to fix criteria for selection and appointment to these posts. Already there is an Act passed in 2012 under which the State Women Commission got statutory backing. A-G proposed to the apex court to allow fresh selection to be made under the monitoring of the apex court.
The Bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur allowed the State to furnish the regulations fixing criteria for selection but refused to cut short the tenure of the present Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson, who still have a year for their tenure to end.